The Dance
by MegAndEm
Summary: Ron and Hermione's very last dance, and Hermione's last thoughts on it. Very sad song-fic.


This is going to be a short and bittersweet song-fic about Ron/Hermione, set to Garth Brooks' song The Dance. I own neither Harry Potter nor Garth Brooks' music, but if I did, I would be really rich. Alas, I am but a poor near-junior. ::sobs:: okay, read on.

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The Dance

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A single, solemn tear rolled down her cheek. Hermione raised a hand to slowly wipe it off. She lowered her hand back to the Photo Album she had found while she had been cleaning her house feverishly. It had been almost five years since she had graduated from Hogwarts, but the memory of what had happened in her 7th year still haunted her terribly. So, when the memories flooded her heart and mind with sorrow, she would do whatever she could to beat it. She knew it was foolish, dwelling on it, but it was so hard to let go of the man she was just beginning to love. Looking back down at the picture of Ron and her dancing underneath the stars at Hogwarts End of the Year ball, the last time she had spent with Ron, she began to shake with silent sobs once again. A tear fell onto the album, but Hermione paid no mind to it.

Looking back on the memory of   
The dance we shared 'neath the stars above   
For a moment all the world was right   
How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye

Hermione began to slip into a flashback she had been experiencing over and over again for the past five years.

"Hermione...er...may I have this dance?" asked Ron shyly, blushing from the tips of his ears down to the collar of his dress robes, which, Hermione noticed, looked really, really good on him. Hermione smiled softly at him, and nodded. He held out a hand to her, and she accepted it. He then did something so un-Ron like that she nearly gasped in surprise: he lowered his head slowly and pressed his lips against her hand. Hermione reveled in the feeling of his mouth on her skin, and after what felt like hours, he pulled away, and gave her that lopsided smile that she had fallen head-over-heels in love with.

"You look beautiful..." he told her, as he led her onto the grass of the Quidditch Pitch, where the ball was being held. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and placed her head on his shoulder, completely comfortable. This is right, she thought, feeling at home. Ron wrapped his arms around her waist, and she leaned into him, loving the contact. They danced to the song, their surroundings falling away slowly until it seemed that the only things there were the two of them and the stars. The music wasn't even heard, as Ron pulled away slowly. Hermione looked up at him, and her heart began to beat fast as his face got closer and closer to her own...

Hermione threw the photo album across the room as hard as she could, and it hit the wall, barely making a dent. She collapsed onto the floor, and began to sob, this time out loud. She had been trying to forget that night for the past five years, but she could never get it out of her head completely, it sat there, like a disease that would creep into her brain every time she thought about him.

"I WISH I HAD NEVER KNOWN YOU, RONALD WEASLEY!!! BLOODY HELL, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE ME?!?!?" Hermione screamed, pounding the hardwood floor. As she sobbed, she thought about what she had shouted, and her mind began to work. If she had never known him, she would have never felt those butterflies that seemed to flutter in her stomach every time she was around him, every time he'd send that grin her way, hell, every time they got into a row. She would have never felt that amazing spread of warmth she had gotten in her abdomen when he kissed her. She would have never known the kind of love she had experienced with Ron - a warm, sweet, and extraordinarily amazing love.

And now I'm glad I didn't know   
The way it all would end the way it all would go   
Our lives are better left to chance

I could have missed the pain

But I'd of had to miss the dance

Hermione fell asleep there on the floor, exhausted from crying. She lapsed into a dream, of Ron, and of the dance that had changed everything for them.

Ron kissed Hermione softly, and she nearly melted into a puddle there on the grass. He pulled away, and rested his forehead against hers.

"I love you, Hermione Granger. I just wish I had realized it earlier." he said, his breath flowing gently over her eyes. She smiled, and nodded in agreement, not being able to speak for fear of sounding like a gibbering idiot. He had kissed her senseless.

"Hermione Granger, why - I do believe you have lost the ability to speak. Oh, dear. My heart." Ron teased, smiling down at her. Oh, hell. Hermione wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, and kissed him, hard. He seemed startled for a second, then melted into it, seeming just as senseless as she had after he kissed her. Hermione smiled smugly, and put her head back on his shoulder. She loved having him in her arms.

Holding you I held everything   
For a moment wasn't I a queen  
But if I'd only known how the queen would fall   
Hey who's to say, you know I might have changed it all

And now I'm glad I didn't know   
The way it all would end the way it all would go   
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain   
But I'd of had to miss the dance

The dream began to change. Hermione tossed and turned on the bed as visions of Voldemort and his death eaters came to mind, in little frames, as if it was a bad movie playing inside her head. And then, the worst. 

"Ahh, mudblood Granger..." drawled Lucius Malfoy, smirking. "The time has come for you to die...Soon - " he said, pressing his wand against her throat, viciously, beginning to deplete her supply of oxygen. "Soon, there will be no mudbloods left to dirty the wizarding world....Goodbye, Miss Granger."

Suddenly Lucius flew off her, and all Hermione saw before she fainted was Ron's unruly red hair in complete disarray as he fell to the ground. All she heard was Harry's heartbroken cry as he saw his best friend fall. She knew nothing more after that.

Hermione woke again in the hospital wing, on a bed. She looked to her left, and smiled slightly when she saw Harry, but her smile fell as she looked around the hospital wing, panicking when she couldn't find Ron. She was about to leap out of her bed, when she felt a calloused hand on her arm. She looked to her side, and saw Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, where - where's Ron?!?" she asked, still struggling to get out of the bed. "I need to find him, I need to see him! I need - " Hermione broke off as she saw a lone tear make its way down Dumbledore's cheek. She tugged her arm away from him.

"No...no. No, Ron is alive. He's alive, Headmaster - I saw him, I saw - " Hermione began to say, then trailed off, remembering what she had seen and heard. Ron falling, and Harry's agonizing cry. She mouthed wordlessly at Dumbledore, and he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Miss Granger. Mr. Weasley died. Bravely, fighting in battle against Mr. Malfoy."

A million thoughts ran through Hermione's head, the main one being that Ron had died trying to save her, and it - it was completely her fault.

Hermione sat up quickly on the floor, her back and her heart aching, drenched in a cold sweat. Her heart was beating rapidly, her was breathing erratic. She wiped the tears that had fallen from her face, and wearily got up off the floor. She opened the windows, noticing it was completely dark out. She sighed, and walked to the photo album she had thrown away in her frenzy, and opened it to the last page. The picture taken right before the End of the Year ball. It was Hermione, Ron, and Harry, their arms wrapped around each other. They were glowing, each of them, not knowing what would happen to them later that night, completely, and obliviously happy. She watched sadly as the Ron in the picture nuzzled against Hermione. The Harry in the picture looked over and shook his head, but had a smile on his face. Hermione laughed shakily, sniffling as she ran a fingertip over Ron's face. She closed the Photo album slowly, putting it in her old Hogwarts trunk, and shutting the top. Dust rose from it as she walked from the room, shutting the door behind her. It was time to continue living her life.

Yes my life is better left to chance   
I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the dance

__


End file.
